Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Turkey and Russia engaged in a tense dance of negotiation and threat on Friday in the wake of the killing of 34 Turkish soldiers in an air strike the previous day. Russian sources maintained that the Turkish troops were “where they were not supposed to be,” and were nested among […]
Archives for February 2020
Iran goes from Bad to Worse: Hardliners win elections, thanks in part to Trump’s treaty withdrawal
(Progressive.org) – ‘TEHRAN—The parliamentary candidates had rented a large hall for a campaign rally, but only a few hundred supporters showed up. They came to see Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, a leading hardliner and possible presidential candidate next year. As warm-up speakers droned on, the audience responded with ritualistic chants but little enthusiasm. Many stared at their […]
Listing companies to boycott over Israeli war crimes is a start . . .
(Middle East Monitor) – The UN finally published its database this month listing companies which profit from Israel’s brutal military occupation of the West Bank. This move was only made after years of unexplained delays. Rather helpfully, though, the Zionist Federation – an anti-Palestine, pro-Israel lobby group in Britain — admitted that, “The United States […]
Targeting Muslims, India is Abolishing Birthright Citizenship
By Rahul Sambaraju and Suryapratim Roy | – The fallout from two controversial changes to citizenship laws continues to rock India. At least 35 people have died in sectarian violence in New Delhi which began on February 23. Muslims homes and businesses have been attacked and mosques vandalised by mobs. All schools in the capital […]
Turkey mobilizes for war with Syria and Russia as Nearly 3 Dozen Turkish Troops Killed
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Al Jazeera reports that nearly three dozen Turkish soldiers in a barracks in Syria were killed Friday by an air strike. Although most reports say that the bombing was carried out by the Syrian Air Force, some Syria experts suggest that it was instead done by the Russian Aerospace Forces, […]
Iran: No Justice for Bloody Crackdown (HRW)
Unlawful Lethal Force, Families Threatened, Cover-Ups
How Cold War US Corporations Smeared Democratic Socialism
By Oana Godeanu-Kenworthy | – Bernie Sanders has emerged as the Democratic front-runner in the race for the presidential nomination. Yet even some left-leaning pundits and publications are concerned about what they see as Sanders’ potential lack of electability. Sanders is a Democratic Socialist. And the label “socialist” is a political liability in American culture. […]
How Democracy Ends: Not With a Bang But With a Whimper
By Karen J. Greenberg | – (Tomdispatch.com) – In this fast-paced century, rife with technological innovation, we’ve grown accustomed to the impermanence of things. Whatever is here now will likely someday vanish, possibly sooner than we imagine. Movies and music that once played on our VCRs and stereos have given way to infinite choices in […]
Anti-Science and Opportunistic: Trump and Iran’s Ayatollahs both Play down Coronavirus
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Christine Romans at CNN wonders if Trump’s news conference on Wednesday evening on the Covid-19 coronavirus was his “Mission Accomplished” moment. After he invaded Iraq in the spring of 2003, George W. Bush gave a triumphant speech that May about how war was now good for humankind beneath a banner […]